This content was published: July 25, 1997. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
PCC Board of Directors Swears in New Chair, Member
Photos and story by Mark Evertz
The Portland Community College board of directors passed the gavel at their July 17 meeting. New chair of the board is Mike Hereford, who will serve a one-year term. Serving with him as vice chair is Norma Jean Germond. The PCC board, made up of seven members, governs a far-flung, 1,500-square-mile district which includes all or parts of Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, Yamhill and Columbia counties.
Hereford represents Zone 6, which includes Aloha, where he resides, and parts of Beaverton. Hereford was elected by Zone 6 voters in the recent May statewide election. Before that, he had been appointed to the post in 1995, replacing Marcia Atkinson who vacated her seat when she moved out of state. Hereford is the human resource manager for Cascade Steel Rolling Mills, Inc. in McMinnville. He is a former president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, served as a commissioner on the Oregon Economic Development Commission and the Port of Portland Commission. Hereford earned an associate’s degree in Management and Professional Development from PCC, a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Oregon State College and a master’s in business administration from George Fox College.
Hereford advocates continual assessment of college performance and stresses the need to be responsive to community needs. He said, "Portland Community College has done a tremendous job of extending educational opportunities to the public. However, I do not believe we can rest on our laurels. We must prove our net worth to the community on a daily basis if we are to maintain our upward trajectory of success."
Germond recently was elected to her fourth term and represents Zone 1, which includes Lake Oswego, Tualatin and Tigard. Germond, a former teacher, is an active civic volunteer and has served on the national board of directors of the Association of Community College Trustees. She is a member of the Hanford Advisory Committee and is a former president of the League of Women Voters of Oregon. She lives in Lake Oswego.
The board also swore in new member Roger Buchanan, who won the seat for Zone 3 in the May election. He replaces David Kish. Zone 3 includes parts of Southeast and Northeast Portland. Buchanan, a labor arbitrator and mediator, was elected as a director of the East Multnomah County Soil and Water Conservation District in 1994, and to two terms as a METRO government councilor, in 1988 and 1992. He has a master’s degree in labor and industrial relations from the University of Oregon and a bachelor’s degree from Portland State University.
Portland Community College is the largest post-secondary institution of higher learning in the state, where more than 82,000 students attend annually, approximately 35,000 per term. The board of directors set policy and approve the budget for the college’s multi-campus system. PCC operates three comprehensive campuses – Sylvania Campus in Southwest Portland, Rock Creek Campus, located between Beaverton and Hillsboro, and Cascade Campus in urban North Portland. The college also operates three training centers – in central Portland, in Aloha, and on S.E. 82nd Ave. And the college offers life-long learning and customized career training in more than 200 metro-area locations.